So I pop into Best Buy - never been in one of their stores before, usually I buy my stuff from the retail leg of the pro store where I usually shop (Sid, etc - yes, I mean Advance).

So I'm looking for something pretty easy - a subwoofer cable, and yes, I'll call it that to make sure not to confuse the Bose jockey that's trying to help me find it. One sub cable, 25' please, the Audio Research peg is empty where the 25's should be. We take a trip around the store (apparently cables are an impulse purchase, so there must be 4 different displays of them!) and during our leisurely stroll, the sales goon I'll refer to hereafter as Thing1 decides to test his vocal cords and ask

"You setting up a kickin' home theatre? 5-point-1? 7-point-1?"

Observation #1: Thing1 can't even get the nonclemature for Ex-dot-1 correct.

'Uh, yeah... Axiom mostly, with a Hsu sub'
"Oh cool, yeah, those rock" (that's got to be a conditioned response - until a year before I bought, I'd never heard of Axiom, so I tested his knowledge with one of the only other things I can double-speak with conviction)
'Yeah... real high-end setup : Heckler & Koch receiver - the MP5.1, DVD player is a Walther with Steyr CD player... I haven't gone to a multi-format player yet'
"Aww... wicked, bet it really rocks" (or rawks, maybe r0x0rz, not quit sure how to stereotype this pustule)

Observation #2: Thing1 does not know the difference between an electronics manufacturer and a gun manufacturer.

So we figure out that there are no 25' non-boutique cables in the store. No problem. Then he makes the biggest mistake he can - offers up a blister packed Monster(tm) brand cable - Lisa would later say based on my facial expression, it looked like the proposed transaction was $39.99 in Canadian funds, plus PST and GST in exchange for a rotted fetus. I suggested I didn't want a Monster(tm) brand cable, and he asked "Why? Have you had a bad experience with the brand?"

At this point, I would love to tell you that I launched into an elegant soliloquay on the cable fable, marketing and product placement. I didn't... with him waggling that, that... thing under my nose, it was even glaring up at me with that shimmering, silvery three letter word... THX... the most I could do is stumble out a "Gah... hummaslumma... Noel Lee..." and a string of expletives - some in languages I didn't speak until that moment. I did suggest that Noel's maaaagical copper wasn't up to the marketing hype and left.

Horrible story Bren.
The Best Buy salesppl can be a hit and miss. I went into BB a couple of weeks ago looking for a dvi cable and the lad who helped me out recognized the "Axiom" jacket i was wearing and correctly identified it as a speaker company. In fact he was apparently looking at Axiom speakers himself and ended up going with Paradigm b/c of the lack of Axiom auditioning possibilities. Of course i told him about the forums if he was interested in knowing more and as well, i left him my card if he wanted to hear them at some point.
Afterwards we chatted about the dvi cable i was looking for and he reminded me about the various formats (e.g DVI-I, DVI-A, DVI-D) which went with different items (something that skipped my mind) and drew a diagram of the differences so we could sort out what cable i needed.
Following that conversation we started talking about dvd players and some of the onboard DACs and video chips. He was aware of the original Panasonic lineup which had the famous Faroujda chips that were often sought after.
Rather an informed young lad, somewhere around the age of 23-25 i would say. I was extremely impressed compared to any dealings with Future Shop which only seem to have brainless wonders pushing any product possible. It sure makes a difference when you shop in a store that is not run on the commissions method. I've never had anyone push me on Monster products at Best Buy let alone push me on anything.
Next time try talking to a different person. Maybe you lucked out and got an overzealous new employee. I'm shocked you didn't set him straight on your test of his knowledge with the gun vs. audio brand comment. I have a feeling he would have become rather quiet after that.

I have a couple of stories about Advance that are rather negative. I'm sure each store has its share of boneheads.

_________________________"Those who preach the myths of audio are ignorant of truth."

I don't think ANY of these stores offer good training to the salespeople.... so whether you get someone who knows their stuff or is just passing time is likely dependant upon how much they knew before wortking there.

I don't get annoyed at ignorance (unless they've never heard of SACD or DVD-A Dammit!!! ) but rather only get annoyed when they're ignorant but trying to ACT like an expert. There's no excuse for them taking that role without doing the homework first to make sure they're truly helping people.

Mark hit the nail on the head! I worked at a BB for a month and on the first day I knew more than my manager did. The only thing I did for the job was read the spec sheets for the recievers we offered (Sony, Yamaha, Pioneer, KLH). So yeah, Bren got an idiot for a salesperson and Chess got the me of the group. It was funny, I went into a BB not to long ago and was perusing the speaker area and the sales kid was trying to talk this older couple into a Bose 5.1 surround setup made of 4 201's and the Bose center. I casually recommended the Athena's "If I were going to purchase speakers at a mass market store" and told the couple that I used to own Bose speakers and that while they're not bad speakers, you can get ALOT more performance from a brand such as Athena. We talked for a little bit about what I owned and what research I had done along with my bro already owning a pair of Athena's and the old man seemed to be happy that he was getting the most speaker for his penny. I pretty much made the sale for the saleskid and all he could say was "ya, I hear the Canadian's make pretty good speakers."

I once was at FutureShop (now owned by best buy), and I was looking at their big screen tv's because they were on sale. The guy was trying to pitch me a huge TV that also had 'pure digital sound' built into it. I asked him what that meant and he said 'it's higher quality'. When I told him I had a home theatre, he said 'you can use those speakers and the one in the TV, it will be louder'.
I didn't buy the TV. I just shook my head.

I thought the .1 referred to the fact that the channel only contains a fraction of the sound spectrum as opposed to a full range, hence "point-1". Although, I'd think "point-zero-one" would be more accurate.

Wow Bren, you must really be proud of yourself...setting up a guy who probably makes $9/hour and works for a store that only wants to sell particular brands because that's the deal the bigwigs behind the fancy desks come up with. What did you expect from a guy working that kind of job, really?

Frankly and no offense (of course), you come off as a complete jerk with an inferiority complex.